footnail

English

Etymology

From foot +‎ nail.

Noun

footnail (plural footnails)

1. (uncommon) Synonym of toenail
   • 1859, Richard F. Burton, “The Lake Regions of Central Equatorial Africa, with Notices of the Lunar Mountains and the Sources of the White Nile; […]”, in Norton Shaw, editor, The Journal of the Royal Geographical Society, volume the twenty-ninth, London: John Murray, […], page 322:

     The soles are more horny and discoloured than the palms, and the foot[-]nails, from walking bare, are often deficient or distorted.

   • 1870, “The Norwich Murder. Trial of William Sheward.”, in The Annual Register: A Review of Public Events at Home and Abroad, for the Year 1869, London: Rivingtons, […], page 223:

     The well-filled understructure of the skin, the delicacy of the skin, the foot of a person not accustomed to hard labour or to wear heavy shoes—the footnails being trimmed, clean, and in good condition, as well as those of the hand—led me to that conclusion.

   • 1882 April, “Sanskṛit Grants and Inscriptions”, in Jas. Burgess, editor, The Indian Antiquary, a Journal of Oriental Research in Archæology, History, Literature, Languages, Philosophy, Religion, Folklore, &c., &c., &c., volume XI, Bombay: […] the Education Society’s Press, […], page 104, column 2:

     Sajjani, embellished with many gem[-]like good qualities, who ever saw her face (reflected) in the mirror of the footnails of her lord, was the wife of that ocean of virtues.

   • 1886, James Bonwick, “Guyana, or Cayenne”, in French Colonies and Their Resources, London: Street & Co., […], page 23:

     Dysentery, tetanus, severe ulcers, sunstroke, inflammation under footnails by parasites, are among the prevalent affections.

   • 1904, chapter CCLXXXVII, in Manmatha Nath Dutt, transl., A Prose English Translation of Agni Puranam, page 1057:

     The elephants that are of good height, capable of enduring a large amount of fatigue, possessed of twenty or eighteen footnails, and exude a sort of cool and transparent exudation from their temples even in winter, and whose right tusks are more elevated than the left ones which invariably attain to a large size, with large and well-developed flapping ears marked by a net of little, dotlike marks, and whose colours resemble that of a pregnant rain cloud, should only be kept in the royal stud, whereas those that are short-statured and constantly require the use of the goading mace should be rejected.

   • 2005, Wiener Zeitschrift für die Kunde des Morgenlandes, page 26:

     Kakuk mentions that no animals other than the grasshopper (çekirge) and the caterpillar (tırtıl), and no “organs” other than the eyelash (kirpik), hair (saç) and the fingernail or footnail (tırnak) are in the list of 1886.

   • 2010, Alfred V. Hirner, Albert W. Rettenmeier, “Methylated Metal(loid) Species in Humans”, in Astrid Sigel, Helmut Sigel, Roland K. O. Sigel, editors, Organometallics in Environment and Toxicology (Metal Ions in Life Sciences; 7), The Royal Society of Chemistry, →ISBN, “Toxicology of Methylated Metal(loid)s”, “Genotoxicity/Carcinogenicity”, “Selenium”, page 495:

     Symptoms of acute selenium poisoning are irritation of the mucous membranes (particularly with selenium hydride), gastrointestinal disorders, and respiratory tract inflammation and, after weeks, potentially hair loss and finger- and footnail injury.

Related terms

• handnail